From Charity Nwakaudu
You would see them dragging their trash carts, hitting them with metals to attract attention and chanting, “Bolaa! Bolaa!! Bolaa!!! Those without carts have their sacks and chant the same call tunes.
These mobile dumpsters are usually young men between 17 and 30 years. They rummage through heaps of refuse to collect scrap metals, footwear and other disposed materials they can salvage.
They also help residents dispose of their solid wastes, especially in far-flung areas where the Abuja Environmental Protection Agency (AEPA) trucks do not get to. In a nutshell, they have become a major part of the Abuja residential ecosystem.
However, not all these scavengers have noble intentions. Some are robbers using trash collection as a decoy to deflect suspicion. Detecting and differentiating the real trash collectors from disguised armed robbers is a great puzzle Abuja residents contend with on a daily basis.
Those who prefer not to patronise them are left to suffocate by the acrid smell of decomposing garbage, as trucks are unavailable.
In recent times, residents have lost their small generators, vehicle parts, foodstuffs, charcoal stove clothes and other valuables to “Mai Bolaa” who came into their compounds purportedly to collect trash but ended up stealing other items when no one was watching.
These dangerous hustlers have also been linked to various anti-social activities such as housebreaking, pickpocketing and molestation of children and women in desolate compounds and neighbourhoods. It is now risky to leave valuable items on balconies because criminals masquerading as mobile dumpsters may likely steal them.
A housewife living Daki Biu, Jabi axis of Abuja, narrated her ordeal in the hands of a scavenger who walked into her compound while she was cooking and lifted the pot from the stove and bolted: “I thought the man was just coming for his normal business of picking things from the trash only for him to lift the pot from the charcoal stove and start running.
“As I watched from where I was drying my clothes, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. When I started shouting thief, thief, neighbours who came out refused to run after him. They all laughed at me and insisted that the man was not a thief, but a hungry and frustrated man.
“Yes! He is hungry but why must it be my own food? Am I the Federal Government? Though, it was very funny the way the man was running but I was very angry too, counting what I spent preparing the jollof rice.”
Alonge Dorathy, a resident of Kubwa, said it was a tug of war recovering her pot of rice from a scavenger who threatened to cut her throat if she did not let him have it: “I was cooking rice and saw him sitting far off. He looked so fatigued. He pretended to be resting after some long trek. But I never knew he was monitoring me.
“Immediately I dropped the pot of rice, he rushed to me. He brought out a dagger from his bag threatening to kill me if I shouted or came close to him. I had to immediately release the food and run away for my dear life. He also fled immediately.
“We went to bed without food that night because it was like a dream to me. I can’t believe that someone can just come and forcefully seize cooked food without minding the reaction of the owner. But thank God I’m alive.”
Another victim, a housewife in Kubwa, Ochie Sara, said the menace of scavengers was becoming increasingly worrisome. She added that the matter got to a head when people washed their clothes and sat outside monitoring them till they dried because taking your eyes off them could be risky:
“Same for shoes left in front of the door. But today, they are not after those things but food, either cooked or uncooked. Foodstuffs that are very expensive and are now their target. For those of us that have our kitchens outside, especially with the increase in the price of gas, most of us now make use of firewood and charcoal stove. If you really want your family to eat the food you must monitor it.
“Last week after cooking soup, I decided to buy fufu from my neighbour only for me to come back and met an empty stove. I became confused and ran into the room to check if I took it inside before leaving.
“Lo and behold, nothing was there. Till date, it is still like a dream. I was the only one at home that day. The only person I saw when I was returning was a man with a sack. I rushed out but didn’t see him again.
“It was a very painful experience for me that day. When my children came back from school, there was nothing to eat. Their father was so angry with me. If I had my own money, I would have cooked another food for them before they came back.”
Yakubu Daura, a resident of Mopol Junction, Nyanya, said: “One cannot leave or forget any of his valuables outside and meet them when he returns. They stole my small generator. I also lost some of my vehicle parts I kept behind the house to these guys. I saw the cart tyre marks on my compound because it’s not yet cemented.
“That is why I believe they were the ones that stole my stuff. Initially, I suspected my neighbours until I saw the tyre tracks. Those parts and the generator are quite expensive, who knows how much they are going to sell them?
“They have now moved to stealing foodstuffs. The wooden kitchen I built for my wife in front of our house was broken. They made away with the cooked food and her new charcoal stove I bought for N15,000.
“Though, there is hunger in the land but are they not scared of eating what they don’t know who prepare it. Charcoal stove is now their main target because people have moved to it due to the high cost of cooking gas. Once they get it, people are ready to buy.”
A businessman from Jabi, Sam Greatness, said: “This is the nation’s capital. There are some things that are not supposed to be allowed. Most of them are seen moving around the town with fully loaded carts, to the extent that they can’t view oncoming vehicles or persons. This can easily lead to road accidents.
“They also litter the city with dirt. They work confidently without minding what people say or feel about them. I think they should be stopped from moving freely in the heart of town. It does not portray a good image of the seat of power.”
A scavenger around Liberty Junction, Kubwa, Suleiman, agreed that some of his colleagues were becoming a thorn in the flesh of residents. He, however, insisted that it remains a lucrative business because a lot of money can be made from those condemned materials:
“Yes, the work is very dirty and dangerous to health. But if you are careful and focussed, you will make good money within a very short period of time and start a good business. Most people see us as thieves, we have thieves among us but please, it is not all of us. Some of us are genuine scavengers, we don’t take people’s properties.”